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#DailyDevotion Have You Widened Your Heart Towards God?

#DailyDevotion Have You Widened Your Heart Towards God?

1 Cor. 6:11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

 

Paul was very open with the Corinthians. He spoke freely to them even though his harshness with their problems could have caused them to turn away from him. He even had to write to them twice. But what he had written he had written out of love for them and concern for their salvation.

 

The Corinthians while not rebelling against Paul were restricted in their affections toward Paul and his companions. They were probably not being honest with them concerning the situation. Like many people they don’t want to corrected any further even if that corrections would be for their betterment. It’s hard to see when we are being corrected that it is done out of love and concern.

 

Paul asks them to widen their hearts also. The more open and honest we can be with people with the things going on in our lives the more intimate we can be with those people. And those people can actually open up to us. Not only that, if we can take the risk of opening our hearts wider to people we may find they are willing to help us in our situations. We may find we are more willing to help other people in their situations.

 

Our God has widened his heart toward us in the person man of Christ Jesus. In Jesus God is very honest with us about the state of our sin, our rebellion, our guilt and our shame. He lets us know in no uncertain terms we should be in deep trouble. If you want to know how big of trouble because of our sin, look to Jesus on the cross and see what your deserve. The Lord God though loves you, me and everyone else. He has taken a big chance that if humbled himself to become one of us and die the death we deserve, we may just confess our guilt, expose our sin to him and seek his forgiveness trusting in the work Jesus did on the cross. Try it out sometime. Verbally list out what you have done and not done according to God’s revealed will.  Admit your guilt and your willingness to repair the damage of your past, like Zachaeus the ruling tax collector. You will find a God, a Heavenly Father who will lavish you with his forgiveness, mercy, kindness, grace, love, righteousness and holiness.

 

Believe God has done this for you. He has widened his heart to include you, yes you in his life, light and love.

 

Heavenly Father, grant us your Holy Spirit that we may so widen our hearts towards you with faith and love even as you have widened your hearts towards us in Christ Jesus with forgiveness, life, and salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Rev. Guillaume J. S. Williams, Sr.

The Reverend Guillaume Williams is the Pastor of Hope Lutheran Chapel of Osage Beach, Missouri. His pastoral ministry with Hope began in 2005 where he preaches the Christ crucified.

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